And her side-kick Bad Belinda

In my early 20’s a dining room supervisor gave me a great piece of advice…

Some very grouchy people will come in and will not be happy until they ruin your day. The best way to get back is to smile, be extra nice, and ruin their day.”

That advice applies to all parts of life. And I think it’s safe to say we have all worked with or employed a grouchy person that turned out to be a toxic addition to the workplace. I don’t think it matters what the job is, these people exist in all walks of life, and all skill levels. There are lots of great blogs out there about toxic employees, I found 5 Types of Toxic Employees, interesting, informative, and to the point. The article is about leading when you have a toxic employee, I think it is worth a read. The author lists these 5 types:

The Hot Mess

The Slacker

The Martyr

The Socialite

The Sociopath

When I read the traits of “The Sociopath” I was both relieved and frightened, I recently had dealings with a person who fit all of the traits. I was relieved because I’m not alone and frightened because she is not alone! Over the years I have worked with many toxic coworkers, cleaned up after them, and have solutions to share.

For the purpose of keeping this blog fun and not trashing anyone, I wanted to wrap all of the toxic people I have met into one Super Villain and give her a name. I came up with Toxic Thana (Toxic Tina was already taken). Thana from Greek Thanatos, meaning Death. Female because the many in my life were female.

Bad Belinda is one of my favorite mischievous elves, she even has her own Twitter account. She’s not toxic, never meaning harm, but she’s not the brightest elf on the shelf.

Thana and Bad Belinda are sure to get into mischief, please subscribe to my blog to be notified of new posts and watch for the series “The Adventures of Toxic Thana” to find out what happens.